My Family

Even if you're not a fan of the homely comedy, quite possibly you'll find yourself unable to resist this hour-long, humbug-packed Christmas episode. It follows the Harper brood (mostly mum Sue and dad Ben) over the entire festive period - from their pre-Christmas, wry grumbling session up until New Year's Eve. This year, Sue decides to cancel Christmas. Ben, however, feels uncharacteristically in the mood, a miraculous change that occurs when a sweet little girl sits on his knee and asks for his help. Later, the Harpers plan a New Year's Eve party to rival their neighbour's glitzy gathering. Can appearances by Rolf Harris and Ainsley Harriott persuade revellers that theirs is the cooler shindig? Take a wild guess.

Robert Lindsay thinks Christmas is rubbish (studio lolz). Then he meets Ainsley Harriott and realises that it's actually much, much worse (applause, end credits). There have been funnier world wars.

Ben offers to step in and act as carer for one of Janey's clients - an old man called Harry. The golden rule is that Harry is not allowed to leave the house under any circumstances. So if you're expecting some doddery old geezer on his last legs then guest star Keith Barron is either very bad casting indeed, or else Harry has been sipping from the fountain of youth when no one's looking.

He certainly looks in better nick than Ben and, with no Susan in the show this week, the two men have a brilliant boys' night out. What's never really explained is why Harry's family are paying to keep the poor man prisoner in his own house in the first place.

Still Ben doesn't mind - he's the one who really needs to get out of the house because son Michael and Roger have commandeered his living room to mope over their broken hearts.

TV ratings: My Family wins comedy clash

BBC1's hardy perennial My Family was the most-watched comedy on Friday, 30 July, attracting more than 4 million viewers. My Family, now in its 10th series, was watched by 4.352 million viewers and attracted a 19.6% audience share on BBC1 from 9pm.

The 10th series of this surprisingly popular sitcom about an average middle-class family trundles on, with an episode mixing elements of psychological thriller and music-hall farce, as father Ben Harper (Robert Lindsay) discovers that his neighbour Martin (Sam Kelly) has built a creepy shrine to Ben's wife Susan (Zoë Wanamaker). Cue a bungled attempt at breaking into Martin's house, a call from the police and a crisis which only an apology and a sharp pair of scissors can untangle.

Tonight's episode of this usually lumbering sitcom perks up with a plotline that puts an amusing slant on competitive parenting. When the Harpers' son Michael (Gabriel Thomson) announces he's gay, the focus is less on the shock of his homosexuality than on Susan's (Zoë Wanamaker) fury that the boy chose to come out to his father, Ben (Robert Lindsay) and not her.

Robert Lindsay and Zoe ­Wanamaker are two of the most accomplished actors of their generation, so it's rather baffling to find them still plugging away at this just slightly above average sitcom, now in its 10th season.

This week, son Mikey (Gabriel Thomson) comes out. Shock, horror, he's gay. Once upon a time (or 2010 in EastEnders) a son coming out would have been the subject of serious, soul-searching drama, so it's good to see it has graduated to comedy. Even so, the jokes sit uncomfortably at times.

The twist is that grumpy, reactionary Ben Harper (Lindsay) quickly accepts the news while Susan (Wanamaker) is furious - about her husband's theft of the moral high ground. But Ben isn't smug for long after a chat with a patient reveals a surprising family connection.

Much derided by the critics, this gentle sitcom is nothing if not resilient. Tonight marks the beginning of its 10th series, a feat which seems all the more remarkable when you consider the fact that there is no longer a family to speak of, the kids having grown up and left home years ago. There are still some decent lines - "putting sealant round the bath does not qualify as a present!" - but it's hard to shake the feeling that, after a decade on air, Zoë Wanamaker (as mother Susan Harper) and Robert Lindsay (as her husband Ben) are largely going through the motions.

For the past nine series, My Family has resolutely steered a course bang slap in the middle of the road, never veering off to the edgier sides in its attempts to get a laugh. So I'm wondering whether this new episode - which is basically about the Harpers committing benefit fraud after Ben is mistakenly classified by the council as a disabled person - might be the one to upset the more traditionally-minded members of their audience. That said, there are some amusing physical gags among the sort of set-'em-up-knock-'em-down jokes that were popular back in the days of Terry and June.

Never let it be said that My Family avoids meaty issues. Series 10 opens with a searing indictment of benefit fraud. Or rather, it stars Robert Lindsay as Ben, who hams it up in a wheelchair when he mysteriously receives cheques he's not entitled to for disability allowance.

Some might say the wheels came off My Family years ago but still it bowls along unstoppably while Daniela Denby-Ashe and Zoe Wanamaker get blonder, curlier and ever more theatrical.

Right now, Janey's nine-year-old son Kenzo is acting all the grown-ups off screen simply by doing not very much, while Wanamaker's Susan comes on like Lady Macbeth: The Panto Years.

Criticising the quality of the scripts recently, she said: "You sometimes have to use all of your talent to make it sound OK." Perhaps she could try using a little less of her talent.